True Blue or best friend?

Sunday

Jan 27, 2008 at 2:00 AM

They grew up the sons of firemen and cops and sanitation workers in a Washingtonville neighborhood. They were on playgrounds morning to night and in front of televisions watching the Giants on Sunday. They grew up but never really grew apart, relationships based on loyalty.

Kevin Gleason

They grew up the sons of firemen and cops and sanitation workers in a Washingtonville neighborhood. They were on playgrounds morning to night and in front of televisions watching the Giants on Sunday. They grew up but never really grew apart, relationships based on loyalty.

"We all basically moved in (from New York City) around the same five- to seven-year time frame,'' John Luedke says. "I think it's how we were all raised together. Bonds created as young kids stayed with us.''

One of the kids Luedke bonded with was Scott Pioli. They remain as close as ever, Luedke a successful trader, Pioli vice president of player personnel for the New England Patriots. And they have shared the thrill of Pioli's Patriots winning three Super Bowl titles in six seasons.

Luedke couldn't make New England's 2005 title win over Philadelphia because of travel problems to Jacksonville, and still feels terrible about not being there with Pioli. But they have been together for New England's two other Super Bowl wins and Luedke will be in Glendale next Sunday, once more with tickets supplied by Pioli.

But any uneasy feelings over missing the '05 Super Bowl are nothing like the guilt and discomfort Luedke feels going into Super Bowl XLII between the Patriots and Giants. Unlike Pioli, whose loyalties changed through employment, Luedke remains a diehard Giants fan. He's a self-described fanatic, having missed one game in 26 years, a 1990 Giants-Rams matchup while vacationing in Ireland. And even then he received play-by-play of the game from a friend over the phone.

Now Luedke's caught in a horrible dilemma over whether to root for his team or root for his best friend. He had figured he could just root for Pioli and New England, like Luedke did the other three times. Then the Giants made their stirring and stunning run to the Super Bowl with three road wins.

Meanwhile, Pioli not only has helped mold a team on the cusp of its fourth title in seven years. These Patriots are 60 minutes from history, trying to become the league's first 19-0 team, the best team ever.

The friends have spoken at least twice the past week and steered clear of the topic. "He knows,'' says Luedke, a 43-year-old Goshen resident, "that I'm in a tough situation.''

Asked if Pioli would be disappointed by Luedke rooting for the Giants and his voice turns somber. "I don't know. I guess that's one of the things that's bothering me. It's really kept me up the last couple nights.'

"I just can't change my stripes like that.''

Pioli couldn't be reached for comment, his schedule always tight with work. He vowed a long time ago not to let anyone outwork him, once saying after New England's first Super Bowl win in 2002, "Complacency or satisfaction: Those words aren't part of my makeup for the way I was raised.''

Raised in Washingtonville, or as it's known to the boys, "the 'Ville.''

The Patriots-Giants regular-season ending game offered no such conflict. The Giants made it easy for Luedke, already having clinched a playoff berth, and he wanted New England to become the first team in history to close the regular season 16-0.

The buddies from the 'Ville probably will have dinner together on Saturday, as they have the night before the other two Super Bowls Luedke attended. Maybe by then they can find some kind of middle ground. After all, Luedke's not rooting against Pioli. Luedke's rooting for the Giants.

"If the Giants play a perfect game, they can beat the Patriots,'' he says. "The Patriots have weaknesses the Giants can exploit.''